This invention relates generally to fishing equipment or gear and, more particularly, to a unique dual purpose device usable in conjunction with a conventional fishhook to either retain a fishing bait in the form of a semi-plastic, generally globular mass of fish food thereon or, alternatively, to serve as an artificial lure alone or in combination with a live bait also attached to the fish hook.
As is well known, there are many different fishing techniques used by fishermen, such as still fishing, bottom fishing, and surface casting, for attracting and catching fish. Understandably, the kind and amount of equipment or gear required to practice one fishing technique may vary from that required to practice another fishing technique. However, all such fishing gear have at least one basic item in common and that isa lure or bait for attracting fish to the fishhook. Regardless of the particular fishing technique being employed by the fisherman in a particular situation, some form of fish lure is an essential and important part of his or/her equipment.
Fishing lures or baits utilized in conjunction with fishhooks for attracting and catching fish can take a multitude of different forms and shapes, and be composed of a variety of organic as well as inorganic materials. Basically, certain fishing lures or baits can be defined as natural or live such as fresh or live worms, frogs, minnows or other small fish, while other lures and bait are, in essence, man-made of organic and/or inorganic materials and may be broadly termed "artificial".
The advantages and disadvantages of using natural lures or baits in comparison with using artificial lures or baits are well known. The primary objections to natural lures or baits result from the fact that the lures or baits are actually living organisms. Thus, there is the problem of having an adequate and continuous supply of fresh lures or baits on hand throughout the fishing operation. Obviously, such problem not only entails the necessity to constantly obtain fresh or live bait such as worms, frogs, small fish or the like, but also to keep such natural bait alive until ready to be used. Moreover, it is important that the bait be kept alive and, thus, effective to attract fish, for long periods of time. The following U.S. patents disclose devices for use in conjunction with fishhooks for securing a natural bait thereto:
2,115,493 Kosten PA1 2,454,879 Mattingly PA1 2,775,058 Roberts PA1 3,863,383 Lore PA1 3,399,483 Naffziger PA1 3,905,149 McCloud PA1 4,221,069 Esses PA1 4,603,502 MacDonald PA1 2,555,088 Irwin PA1 2,632,276 Hale PA1 2,869,279 Pretorius PA1 2,910,800 Cicala PA1 3,066,434 Duller PA1 4,554,756 Thomas
While all of the fishing lure or bait devices disclosed in the above-listed prior art patents are no double successful to some degree in overcoming the shortcomings noted above inherent in natural bait fishing, such fishing lure or bait devices obviously are incapable, by themselves, of completely solving the problem confronting the fisherman of having a continuous supply of live fishing bait available at all times.
Because of the foregoing inherent and other well known disadvantages of natural lures or bait, a multitude of various artificial lures and baits have been proposed to overcome such disadvantages without sacrificing the fishing-attracting qualities possessed by natural lures and baits. One such attempt is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 1,851,698 to Fitch wherein a fishhook is provided with means whereby the fisherman, without detaching the hook from the line, can easily change the apperance or shape of a fly type bait as desired. Although the fishhook assemblage disclosed in the Fitch patent no doubt will suffice and be adequate to catch fish under many different fishing conditions, it is only capable of attracting fish by their sense of sight alone.
Thus, in order to further enhance the fish-attracting qualities of artificial bait, various proposals have been advanced to entice fish to the hook by appealing to their senses of smell and taste as well as to their sense of sight. One such proposal involves the utilization of an artificial bait of the type generally referred to as "stink dough" or simply as "dough" bait. The utilization of artificial bait in the form of dough bait as a viable substitute for live bait has long been appreciated by fisherman. Dough bait, which is available commercially or is prepared by the angler himself, generally comprises a variety of aroma-emitting ingredients, such as corn flour, white bread scraps, chopped fish and meat parts, cheeses, and salmon eggs as an example. The dough bait ingredients are kneaded into a putty-like,pliable, semi-plastic mass. A globular portion of the bait material is then placed on the fishhook. Although, the utilization of dough bait does obviate to some extent the expenses and problems noted above attendant with live bait fishing, the problem of retaining or holding dough bait in close proximity to the fishhook for long periods of time has not, prior to the present invention, been fully solved.
Numerous attempts have been made to solve the problem of securely holding artificial bait in close proximity to the fishhook for long periods of time. The following U.S. patents each disclose means for holding an artificial bait designed to emit odors/and or minute particles of fish food in the water surrounding the fishhook:
All of the fishing hook and artificial bait holder assemblages disclosed in the above-listed prior art patents involve the mounting of artificial bait means adjacent to the barbed end of a fishhook and require a specially designed enclosure for the bait material in the form of a cloth bag, capsule or other similar hollow container. Obviously, such fish bait enclosures or containers can be costly to manufacture and such manufacturing costs add to overall cost of the fishing hook and artificial bait assemblages.
It will also be appreciated that with the possible exception of the fishhook shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,555,088, the fishhook of each of the fishhook and artificial bait holder assemblages disclosed in the above-listed patents is not in the form of a commercially available, standard barbed hook, but rather it is in the form of a specific and unique design in order to accommodate the particular bait holder associated therewith. Thus, the cost of manufacturing such fishhook and bait holder assemblages is further increased.
Moreover, in all of the fishhook and artificial bait assemblages disclosed in the above-listed prior art patents, the fish-attracting bait material is fully or at least substantially enclosed while the barbed end of the fishhoo, is exposed and in full view of the fish when in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,920 to Anton et al. discloses a device for securing and retaining an artificial bait, such as a cluster of salmon eggs on a fishing hook. The bait retaining device is alleged to supplement the bait-holding capability of the fishhook alone.
There are occasions during a fishing outing when a fisherman desires to switch from one method of fishing to another method. As an example, fish may not be srtiking a fishhook provided with dough bait and he wishes to try using a live bait, and/or artificial bait or lure made of an inorganic material. To be able to fulfill such desires, the angler, of necessity, must carry a large number of different sets of hooks and lures. The present invention, as will be pointed out hereinafter, obviates the necessity of having a variety of different hook and lure assemblages available in order to practice different methods of fishing.